I am running for a City Council seat because I want to represent your views and be your voice. I believe it is time for the right person to "step up" and help move our city into a new era of growth and prosperity! This city of Cottage Grove is growing, and the leaders of this city have the city going in the right direction. But we must keep businesses in Cottage Grove and citizens that live here. To do this we must keep property taxes low, there must be places to shop, eat and things for people to do in Cottage Grove. We must support the businesses in Cottage Grove, we must give them tax breaks.

What skills and qualifications would you bring to public office?

I have the knowledge and experience needed to get the job well done. I am a hard worker and a decisive leader. You can see this through my 15 years in the U.S. Marine Corps and as a volunteer throughout Cottage Grove.

What does the city need to do to ensure all Cottage Grove residents have safe drinking water?

In February we were granted money by the 3M lawsuit to fix our filtration system and get a temporary fix. But according to state agencies we won't see any funding until 2020 to clean our water. That doesn't look good for us here in Cottage Grove. We need to get a permanent solution now. One those permanent solutions is municipal system water.

Is the city doing enough to attract affordable and life-cycle housing?

The city of Cottage Grove is vastly growing. New homes are being built every day and senior living is being built. But the question is cost. Can people afford the new homes being built? Can we attract people to Cottage Grove and build new homes in Cottage Grove? To attract and make more homes affordable some cities in the metro have helped reduce the selling price of the homes by waiving its sewer and water access charge $2,000 for each home. Another has reduced driveway construction and utility installation costs by $478 per home by decreasing the distance the homes are set back from the lot boundary by 11 feet.